Another Journey Into Darkness
by xxSPARTAN119xx
Summary: Kouichi and Mei are attacked by the "extra" and forced to fight their way through a horde of nightmarish creatures to uncover the mystery behind the horrors behind Yomiyama... and just to live to see another day. AU diverging after Episode 10
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Into The Darkness

**Author's Note: I do not own Another or Eternal Darkness. Another is property of Yukito Ayatsuji and PA Works. Eternal Darkness is property of Silicon Knights and Nintendo. This story is an alternate universe that diverges from the main plot around episode ten. Note that this is before the dining hall catches fire.**

Kyouichi Sakakibara and Mei Misaki sat in Kyouichi's room at the lodge, gathered around the tape player as the cassette tape they had recovered. The tape was about to reveal how to break the curse on Class Three of Yomiyama North Middle School and prevent any more deaths.

"That's why, while my memory is still clear, I want to tell you the truth and how to stop the calamity", the voice on the recording said, "Are you listening? Send them back to death where they belong; send the dead back to death. That is how to stop the calamity once it has began."

"Is the "dead person" on this trip?", Kyouichi asked.

"The extra person…", Mei said, "Is here".

With a loud bang, the door was knocked open. Outside stood their assistant teacher, Reiko Mikami, armed with a pickaxe.

Kyouichi and Mei both turned and stared, taken by surprise. Mei took off the eye patch that covered her glass eye and said, "Its her. She's the extra".

"Excellent work", Mikami-sensei said, "but your little game ends here! There is nothing you can do to stop the forces at work here. You and the rest of the class will die like those before them, an offering of flesh and bone to sustain the great Chattur'gha!"

"What the!", Sakakibara said as Mikami raised the pickaxe and ran at him, swing the weapon on a wide vertical arc. Kyouichi sidestepped the blow, and, thinking quickly, grabbed a chair and blocked a second strike from Mikami's pickaxe, using the bottom of the chair as a shield.

Kyouichi then swung the chair in a horizontal arc at Mikami's head with all his strength. The blow connected, knocking Mikami on her back, breaking a leg off the chair, and caving in part of her skull.

"Be careful", Mei said, "Something's not right, it like… there's something inside her…"

Suddenly, a red mist of blood and gore, something burst out of Mikami's chest. A creature unlike anything Kyouichi had seen before. It was about the size of a large dog, with a body tinged blood red, Kyouichi couldn't tell if it even had skin. The creature's head had a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, and had two long, sword-like claws at the end of its arms.

The creature got up with a stance similar to that of praying mantis, before it lunged at Mei, jumping on top of her. Mei grabbed onto the creature's arms, holding back its sword-like claws.

As Kyouichi saw this, he had only one thought in his head, "Kill it!". Kyouichi grabbed the pickaxe off the floor and ran across the room, where the creature pinned down Mei, he grip on its arms weakening, she couldn't hold if off much longer.

Kyouichi made horizontal swing at the creature's head, driving the pickaxe through the side of its skull and into the brain, so hard that the pickaxe kept going out the other side, pinning the creature to the wall. The monster's body was motionless. It was dead.

"Are you all right?", Sakakibara asked Misaki as he held out his hand to help her out.

"Yes", she said, "Thank you".

"What was that thing… and how did you know it was inside her?"

"My eye", Mei said, pointing to her green glass eye, "It has the power to see things that one should not be seen. I usually keep it covered, but I'll keep it open for a while, there could be more of those them".

"Good idea", Kyouichi, "I'll call the police".

Kyouichi got out his cell phone and dialed 119, however the call was dropped. Kyouichi tried again, only for the call not to connect. After a third failed attempt, Kyouichi yelled "Damn it!"

At that moment, Kyouichi and Mei heard screams, crashing, and banging coming from the other rooms in the lodge, then hurried footsteps coming toward them.

Kyouichi readied his pickaxe as Mei picked up a chair leg that had broken off the chair Kyouichi had his Mikami with. Suddenly, Teshigawara ran into the room, armed with a metal spike that looked like some sort of fireplace poker. The spike was stained with blood.

Kyouichi prepared to attack, but Teshigawara yelled "Wait, I'm not one of them…"

Kyouichi loosened his grip on the pickaxe slightly, as he asked, "What happened!"

"Akazawa walked into the room, armed with this spike. I asked her what was going on, but she started blabbering about how my death was planned out years ago and something about sacrificing my flesh and bone to someone called Chattur'gha.", Teshigawara said, panic in his voice, "Then, she tried to stab me with this spike. I took a lamp of a table and hit her over her head with it…. I…. killed her… and then… something burst out from her chest… It was like something out of _Aliens _or some shit like that… I killed the monster too… I SWEAR IT WAS TRUE!"

"Calm down", Kyouichi said, "I believe you. We had the same thing happen to Mikami-sensei…"

Teshigawara took a deep breath, then another. As he opened his mouth to speak, however, he made only a gurgling sound, blood flowing out of his mouth. A long, sharp, sword like claw was sticking out of his chest. Teshigawara fell to the floor, another one of the creatures that possessed Mikami-sensei walking over his body.

Kyouichi raised his pickaxe and swung it down on the creature's head, killing the monster as Mei picked up the metal spike to use it as a weapon. The two of them entered the hall, when they saw the entire class in the halls, advancing slowly from either end of the hallway, armed with improvised weapons and making an inhuman hissing sound.

"RUN!", Misaki said, "They're all like Mikami-sensei".

Kyouichi and Misaki ran, down the hallway and onto the grand staircase, pursued by their undead classmates. The more of the "zombified" students cut them off, blocking the exit.

"Into the dining hall", Kyouichi said, "We'll make our way out a window"

Kyouichi opened the dining hall door and hurried inside, followed by Mei. The two of them immediately pushed a table in front of the door, blocking it off.

"Kyouichi, duck!", Mei said. "Kyouichi did as he was told, seeing a kitchen knife fly above him in the hands of the woman who owned the lodge. The lodge owner raised her knife again and prepared to thrust downwards. Kyouichi heard the sound of a blade entering flesh.

But Kyouichi was not dead, or even wounded. Rather, the lodge owner fell the floor, dead, a metal spike sticking out of her chest. Mei walked up the body and pulled out the spike she was using as a weapon.

"Wait!", Kyouichi said, "One of those things could still be inside her?"

"No", Mei said, "I saw where it was, and killed it while it was still inside her."

As Mei spoke, she took a lighter off the body of the lodge owner, and walked over to the door to the kitchen.

"What are you doing!", Kyouichi asked as he saw Mei turn on the gas pipe feeding fuel to the propane stove.

"We cannot allow these things to escape into town", Mei said, "I'm going to destroy the lodge"

"You're going to get us both killed!", Kyouichi said.

"I'm not", Mei said as she grabbed a couple seemingly random items, an empty glass bottle from a recycling bin and a rag, "Smash that window"

Kyouichi smashed the window, cool, wet air and drops of rain flying in, diluting the smell of gas. Mei climbed out first, followed by Kyouichi, and led him to a small maintenance shed. There, Mei grabbed a gasoline can next to a lawnmower and filled the bottle, before soaking the rag in gasoline and placing it in the neck of the bottle. Now Kyouichi knew exactly what he was planning.

"You throw, I'll light", Mei said, as she got out the lighter.

"OK", Kyouichi said, unsure if this was a good idea.

Nonetheless, Kyouichi stood as far from the broken window as he thought he could throw and held the Molotov cocktail at the ready. Mei clicked the lighter and lit the rag on fire.

"Now", Mei said.

Kyouichi aimed carefully and threw the Molotov cocktail. The improvised firebomb flew through the air and into the window. He heard the bottle shatter and saw a flickering orange light in the kitchen, he grabbed Mei and pushed her to the ground.

Then, he saw a bright flash of orange light and heard a thunderous roar. The gas pipe feeding the stove exploded violently. As soon as the initial blast had passed, Kyouichi and Mei ran away from the lodge, secondary explosions going off behind them as they walked along the road back to town.

"I had know idea your were this resourceful", Kyouichi said, "You're really full of surprises, Mei".

"I'll take that as a compliment", Mei said.

Suddenly, her voice was interrupted by a serious of loud noises- shouts, police sirens, what sounded like gunfire, and most ominously of all, what sounded the shrieking and hissing sounds made by the creatures that had hijacked the bodies of all of Class Three.

"Great", Sakakibara said, "I have a nasty feeling this night is just getting started".


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I do not own Another or Eternal Darkness. Another is property of Yukito Ayatsuji and PA Works. Eternal Darkness is property of Silicon Knights and Nintendo.**

Chapter 2: City of the Dead

Kyouichi Sakakibara and Mei Misaki turned a corner in the road and immediately, their eyes were assaulted by two bright lights.

"Freeze, drop your weapons!", A male voice ordered.

"Don't shoot!", Kyouichi said, throwing his hands into the air.

"They're not one of them", the other voice, also male, said, "You can come over here".

Kyouichi blinked, the blur in his vision from the intense light fading away to reveal two police cars with flashing lights blocking the road into town. Standing behind them were two police officers, one of them armed with a submachine gun Kyouichi recognized from a first person shooter video game as an MP5. The other officer carried a semi automatic shotgun that Kyouichi thought was called a Benelli M3… or was it an M4?... Both weapons had tactical flashlights attached under the barrel.

About two dozen bodies lay strewn about the ground in front of the police cars, some of them human, though something was off about them. It was Mei who noticed it.

"These bodies", she said, "I see the color of death on them too brightly, like they have died twice".

"I don't know what you mean by color of death", the police officer with the MP5 said, "But we've been attacked by waves of what look almost like… zombies… for the last half hour or so… they're all decayed… they shouldn't move… but they do…"

"And there are those things that look like praying mantises", the other officer said, "and those giant things". As he spoke, the police officer motioned to several bodies of the praying mantis-like creatures and a the remains of a single large creature lying face down on the pavement, riddled with bullets.

"We've seen the mantises", Kyouichi said, "But I thought that big thing was a pile of bodies or something. Any idea what the hell's going on here?"

"No idea", the police officer with shotgun said, "We've tried getting into contact with other police departments and the JSDF for backup, but the radio is getting this strange interference. Cell phones don't work either."

"As far as we know, we could be the last people still alive in Yomiyama.", the other officer added, "From what we saw driving out here, in only gets worse in town, more of these things. Seems to be concentrated on the north end. If I had to guess, I'd say these things were coming from somewhere around there."

Suddenly, Mei said, "More of them, behind you". The officers turned to see a group of four "zombies" advancing on them, their bodies smelling of decay, their bodies a blood red as though all the skin had been peeled off.

The officer with the shotgun fired a shot, blowing away the half-decayed neck of a zombie blowing off its head. The zombie, however kept moving, though it flailed its arms about wildly, unable to see, hear, or smell its prey. A second shotgun shell to the torso blew the zombie in half, finally sending it falling to the floor.

Meanwhile, the police officer with the MP5 riddled another zombie with bullets until if fell to floor, dead. Within a few seconds later, all four of their undead attackers had been returned to death.

The police officers reloaded their weapons. As the officer with the MP5 finished reloading, however, the thunderous footsteps shook the ground. A creature about two and half meters tall, with arms and legs as thick as tree trunks, with razor sharp claws walked out from behind a house about twenty meters beyond the police roadblock. The monster was covered in scales of the same blood red color as the "zombies" and the "mantises". Most disturbingly, it seemed to have three heads.

The two police officers fired on the creature that stood before them, but the only got off a few shots before the monster fired off two red beams of energy, striking both of them with a thunderous roar. The two police officers fell to the ground, with no marks on their bodies, but smell of burning flesh filled the air, as though they had been electrocuted.

Kyouichi sprinted over to one of the police officers and grabbed the MP5 and took aim through the red dot sight attached above the receiver, placing the dot over the creature's body. Kyouichi pressed down the trigger. Until this moment, Kyouichi did not realize just how loud a real gun actually was. The chattering of fully automatic fire drowned out all other sounds as Kyouichi pulled the weapon down a hard as he could, struggling the control the muzzle climb.

The monster roared in anger and pain as the bullets impacted all over its body, charging at Kyouichi in a furious rage. Between the chattering of his MP5 firing, Kyouichi heard a series of loud bangs add to the cacophony of his own weapon- Mei had picked up the shotgun, pointed it at the monster, and squeezed the trigger. Mei recoiled, feeling the gun kick back more than she had expected. Unphased, Mei placed the gun against her shoulder and fired again, two more times.

It was over in less than two seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. As Kyouichi's gun finally fell silent, replaced by the click of an empty chamber, the three-headed monstrosity fell to its knees, before finally landing face down on the pavement, dead.

"Mei!", Kyouichi said, "Are you alright?"

"Fine", Mei said, before adding, "You have any idea how to reload this thing?".

"I think you do it like this", Kyouichi said, taking the a shotgun shell from the dead police officer's belt and loading it into the loading gate of the shotgun, red end first.

"Thanks", Mei said, loading the next shell herself, until the weapon would not take any more shells. As Mei reloaded, Kyouichi fiddled with magazine of his MP5, finding the magazine release in front of the magazine after a couple seconds. He removed the empty magazine and took a fresh one off the fallen police officer's belt.

"We should take the rest of these", Kyouichi said, removing the police officer's belt, with contained four more magazines, as well as Smith and Wesson revolver in a holster, and a nightstick, before he replaced his own belt with the officer's holster belt. Mei did the same.

Kyouichi walked over to the place where he had dropped his pickaxe and picked it up, along with Mei's metal spike.

"It think it's a good idea to keep the melee weapons handy, in case we run out of ammo.", Kyouichi said, loading his weapons into one of the police cars, which still had its light flashing and the engine running. Kyouichi climbed into the driver's seat of the police car.

"Are you sure you can drive this thing?", Mei asked.

"I think I can figure it out", Kyouichi replied as he depressed what he hoped with the clutch and pulled back on the gearshift. He then turned the steering wheel and depressed the gas pedal. The car lurched backwards, off the road and onto the shoulder.

"OK", Kyouichi said, "That's reverse".

After fiddling with the gearshift for a few seconds, he managed to get the car into first gear and moving forward.

"Kyouichi", Mei said, "You're driving towards the town"

"That cop said theses things seemed to be concentrated on the north side of town. I bet they're coming from Yomiyama North. If we get to the school, we can put a stop to this. The police are scattered and probably dead, and we can't get into contact with the SDF. If anyone's going to stop this, it has to be us!"

Mei thought about it for a second. Kyouichi was right. If they got out of town and contacted the JSDF, who would believe them that their town was overrun with monsters. They'd likely be arrested for stealing the guns and the police car. By the time the authorities found out the truth, who knows how far the darkness that emanated from Yomiyama would spread.

Kyouichi turned a corner, running down one of those mantis-like creatures, before driving down a hill past a row of houses, before slamming on the brakes to stop from crashing into the house at the bottom of the hill. Kyouichi made a sharp turn onto the main road, driving towards Yomiyama North.

Suddenly, the car stalled. Worse still, about five zombies slowly advanced from the buildings on either side of the road. Mei grabbed her shotgun and opened the door, before pointing the shotgun directly at the nearest zombie, a few meters away.

Mei squeezed the trigger, firing off a shot that blew away the zombie's head and riddled its torso, The zombie fell the floor. Mei fired a second shotgun blast at the next nearest zombie. It too fell to the ground. Then, something unexpected happened. The zombie Mei had shot a few seconds ago got back up.

Unphased, Mei shot the undead creature again, blowing away most of the putrid flesh on its torso. This time, the zombie stayed. Mei fired another shotgun blast at the downed zombie, making sure it was dead.

As Mei shot another zombie with two blasts- to make sure it stayed dead, Kyouichi fiddled with the ignition and the gearshift, trying to get the car back into gear. Suddenly, Kyouichi heard a gunshot that was not fired by Mei.

A police officer armed with a revolver took aim at the car, his last shot flying just inches from Kyouichi's face, shattering the side window. A piece of glass scraped the side of Kyouichi's face. Thinking quickly, Kyouichi grabbed his MP5 from below the seat with one hand and steadied into on the windowsill, before firing a burst of about five or six rounds.

Kyouichi's aim staggered slightly as one of the hot shell casings hit is foot, but nonetheless, the torso of his attacker was riddled with bullets. Sure enough, one of those mantis-like creatures burst from the chest of the police officer, its host body too damaged to be of any use.

Kyouichi fired a burst of two rounds at the mantis-like creature, only for it to dive out of the way at superhuman speed. It had literally dodged the bullets.

"You've got to be shitting me!", Kyouichi said.

Suddenly, a shotgun blast was heard. The creature tried to dodge the projectiles, but it could not dodge all of the shot, two of them hitting its torso and one embedding itself in its head. The monster fell to the pavement.

As Mei killed the monster that had possessed the police officer, Kyouichi finally got the car working again. Mei jumped into passenger seat and slammed the door shut as the car took off, making its way through the streets to Yomiyama North Middle School, plowing through and zombies or other monsters that got in the way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I do not own Another or Eternal Darkness. Another is property of Yukito Ayatsuji and PA Works. Eternal Darkness is property of Silicon Knights and Nintendo. This chapter is somewhat longer than the others so far, mainly as much of it is taken up with paraphrasing the plot of Eternal Darkness, plus a few new chapters.**

Chapter 3: A Place Close to Death

Kyouichi Sakakibara plowed through another group of about four or five zombies as he drove the car up onto the front sidewalk leading to the entrance of Yomiyama North Middle School, before slamming on the brakes, bring the vehicle to a complete stop.

Four more zombies were attracted to the sound of the vehicle halting mere feet from the entrance of the school. Kyouichi kicked open the door, knocking one of the zombies over, before firing a burst of three rounds from his MP5 into the torso of the downed zombie at point blank range, killing it. The second undead creature was dispatched with a burst to the torso, and a single execution-style gunshot to the head.

Meanwhile the three shotgun blasts rang out as Mei Misaki killed one zombie with two shots from her Benelli assault shotgun and wounded a second with the third shot, before finishing it off by piercing its head with the metal spike she was using as a melee weapon.

As the two of them walked away from the vehicle, they heard a load roar and felt the ground shake with rapid, thunderous footsteps. Kyouichi and Mei ran in opposite directions as the glass front doors to the school shattered. Seconds later, another one of those giant three-headed creatures burst through the door, slamming into the car that Kyouichi and Mei were inside only seconds before. The front of the vehicle was crushed by the impact as the car was launched several meters away.

Mei fired three shots into the creature's side, one of the shotgun blasts mangling its right arm beyond repair. This infuriated the creature, which turned at Mei and charged at her, swing its remaining good arm.

The monster was only a couple meters from her when Mei fired a shotgun blast into the creature's left-most head. The pellets shredded it, but with its other two heads still intact, the creature kept moving, even more determined to crush the girl that had caused it so much injury. Mei tried to fire again, but heard not a loud "boom", but the click of an empty chamber.

The three-headed beast roared and raised it clawed left arm, swinging it down at Mei, who rolled to the side, the beast's arm passing in above her. Mei got up from the roll and ran past the creature, turning around, towards Kyouichi, desperate, trying put some distance the creature.

Mei, however, tripped over the dead remains of a zombie, Mei drew her the .38 revolver she had taken from the dead police officer and pointed it in the general direction of the hulking creature and squeezed the trigger as quickly as she could. One bullet after another pierced the torso of the creature. As the creature was within a couple meter's distance, Mei took careful aim and fired her last two bullets at the heads of the creature. The first round blew the a hole clean through the right head, but the bullet meant for the central head missed, only grazing the side of its face.

At the same time Kyouichi took aim at the back of the creature, placing the red dot sight of his MP5 right over the center head of the monster. Kyouichi squeezed the trigger, firing a three-round burst, causing the monster's last remaining head to explode in a red mist. The creature fell facedown on the floor as Mei got back on her feet and started fiddling with the chamber release on her revolver. After a few seconds, she got the chamber open and reloaded the weapon.

As Mei finished reloading her sidearm, Kyouichi walked up to her with her shotgun.

"Here", he said, handing her the weapon.

"Thanks", Mei said, "Look out for me while I reload"

"Sure thing", Kyouichi said, scanning the area outside the school, MP5 at the ready. After several seconds, Mei had replaced all eight shells in the magazine of her shotgun.

"You ready", Kyouichi asked.

Mei nodded. "Lets go", Kyouichi said in response, "Call it instinct, but I have a feeling there will be something wait for us in Classroom Three."

Kyouichi entered the school building first, followed by Mei. They checked the rows of lockers in the entrance foyer, finding the foyer to be completely deserted. Mei and Kyouichi climbed up the stairs, pausing only briefly to eliminate a zombie that walked in from the second floor with a short burst from Kyouichi's MP5 and a blast from Mei's shotgun, before ascending two more flights of stairs, finally reaching the fourth floor of the school.

Suddenly, Kyouichi heard a high-pitched shrieking sound and saw something red fly towards him. He put up his hands to protect his face from the object, dropping his MP5 as he did so, and found himself face to face to one of the mantis-like creatures.

Fueled on pure adrenaline, Kyouichi held the monster back with one hand as he grabbed the nightstick he took of the remains of the police officer he found earlier and swung it in the face of the creature, knocking it on its back.

At that point, Mei ran forward, Benelli M4 in hand, and stuck the barrel right against the mantis-like monster's face and pulled the trigger, vaporizing the creature's head in a blast of shot. The monster's body fell to the floor in a pool of blood flowing out of the mangled stump of a neck.

"You OK?", Mei asked.

"Yeah", Kyouichi said as he walked forward, slowly making his way down the short length of hall that separated the hall from class three.

Kyouichi slowly turned the door to class three and pushed it open. He entered, scanning the room for any enemies that may lurk within, but there were none to be seen.

Mei closed the door to the deserted classroom behind them, and then… it happened. The room disappeared in swirl of light as a high-pitched shrieking filled the room. The shrieking sound remained, however. Kyouichi looked around him. He was in a stone-walled, high ceilinged room, with wide windows, like a European cathedral. The windows let in a bright light, but Kyouichi could see only white emptiness beyond them.

Kyouichi looked down, and realized he was on a narrow platform, lined with statues. Etched into the floor were countless faces that appeared to be screaming at the top of their lungs. The shrieking sound seemed to emanate from the faces carved on the floor.

"Where the hell am I!", Kyouichi said, a definite note of fear in his voice, "Mei!"

"I'm here", Mei said.

Mei walked past Kyouichi and examined the first statue, only the lower torso and legs remained, but from what he could see, the statue appeared to have once been clad in Roman style armor.

Kyouichi walked up behind Mei and examined the statue as well. In the stone base was carved the name "Pius Augustus". The next statue was of a man in Middle Eastern clothing, carrying a scimitar. The name on the statue read "Karim".

Across from Karim was a boy who looked no older than his teens simply labeled "Anthony". Then a girl in a revealing outfit named "Ellia", a man in clothing from about the Renaissance Era named "Roberto Bianchi", a statue of a monk labeled as

"Paul Luther". The next statue was of a samurai whose name was worn off the base, then there was man in 18th century European or American clothing labeled "Maximillian Roivas", a World War II-era American soldier named "John Williamson", and finally, a boy in an oddly familiar outfit, whose name was worn off the base, like the samurais.

Beyond the statue of "Edward Roivas" was what looked like a large, leathery hand clutched around something.

As Mei approached the giant hand, the hand slowly opened. Kyouichi brought the MP5 to his shoulder, ready the blow the giant disembodied hand to pieces. But once it opened, the hand stopped moving. In the center of the palm of the giant hand, was an old, leather bound book.

Mei reached out and picked up the book. Kyouichi opened his mouth to speak, but before any words could come out, the room evaporated, reforming back into Classroom Three.

"What the hell just happened!", Kyouichi said.

"I don't know, but it must have something to do with this book", Mei said, holding up the leather-bound book.

"That…. That wasn't a hallucination?", Kyouichi said.

Mei ignored him and opened the book. On the title page were two lines writing in a language unlike any Kyouichi had seen before. The characters definitely weren't kanji or hiragana or romanji or anything like that. As Kyouichi thought this text changed into Japanese.

"Tome of… Eternal Darkness", Kyouichi said slowly, reading out the name of the book, his voice sounding uneasy.

Mei disregarded his unease about the tome and turned the page. The next page told to the story of a The Ancients, four beings with great magical powers (Mei and Kyouichi noticed that the spelling of used archaic characters, something akin to spelling it "magick" in English) that existed before mankind, Chattur'gha, Ulyaoth, Xel'lotath, and Mantarok. These beings were said to be sealed in another dimension, with the exception of Mantarok, who was said to be sealed somewhere on Earth. More interestingly still, it seemed that the Ancient's powers had a sort of "rock-paper-scissors" relationship with each other- Chattur'gha beats Xel'lotath, Xel'lotath beats Ulyaoth, Ulyaoth beats Chattur'gha, with the exception of Mantarok, who had dominance over all three. The tome stated that the ancients were awaiting their chance to return and wipe the other ancients… and humanity from existence and reclaim Earth for themselves.

"Sounds like something Lovecraft would come up with", Kyouichi commented.

Mei continued reading, through a chapter that told of a Roman centurion in 29 BC named Pius Augustus, who came upon a mysterious ancient temple in Persia, which was filled with monsters and zombies. Pius fought his way through the hordes of the living dead. In a chamber of the center, he found an artifact, the essence of Chattur'gha, and… became an undead servant of Chattur'gha… and went on to bind Mantorok in a temple in Cambodia with his own magic.

"Wait… does this mean we'll…", Kyouichi asked, but Mei ignored him and kept reading.

"Shh…", Mei said, continuing. As Mei skimmed through the next several chapters, Kyouichi's fear was quickly overcome by curiosity. It turned out that in 565 AD, the temple where Pius found the artifact was rediscovered by another, a Persian adventurer named Karim. There, Karim fought through hordes of monsters, only to… die horribly and be charged with guarding an artifact, the essence of Ulyaoth in spectral form.

The next people who encountered the minions of the Ancients didn't fair much better, a page named Anthony in 814 AD, Amiens, France, died after failing to stop a plot by the Ancients to kill Charlemagne. In 1152, a Cambodian slave girl discovered the temple where Mantarok was bound… and was killed by Pius Augustus. In 1460, an Italian architect was forced by a conqueror, who was actually Pius in disguise, to help stabilize the temple where Pius first found the essence of Chattur'gha for a monument… a literal "pillar of flesh", a pillar made from the bodies of countless men buried alive in concrete. In 1485, a Franciscan monk named Paul Luther discovered that the same cathedral in Amiens where Anthony had died was a hot bed of the activity of Chattur'gha's minions. Paul fought off a horde of the monsters, but in the end, was killed by a gigantic monster hidden in chamber under the cathedral.

But it was the next chapter that was most interesting, it mentioned a samurai named Masaki Yomiyama.

"Yomiyama?", Kyouichi said, "Like the town?"

"In addition to the name of the town, according to some versions of the tale", Mei said, "The original "other" was named Masaki Yomiyama. In others he was named… Misaki".

Mei continued reading, revealing that Masaki Yomiyama had, in fact, lived in the area of Japan that was home to the present-day city of Yomiyama. Moreover, he found, hidden below what would presently become the city, a complex of ancient tunnels, infested with the living dead. He fought his way though the horrors and eventually reached the innermost chamber, where… he was killed by another massive creature, like the one that did in Paul.

Kyouichi and Mei kept reading, looking for more information, skimming through a chapter about a doctor in 1760, Rhode Island named Maximillian Roivas, who that discovered the ancient city of Ehn'gha filled with the minions of Chattur'gha, which had killed of the original inhabitants millennia ago, under his house. Roivas killed a spider-like monster with a pair of flintlock pistols, only to try and tell the world of his discovery and be thrown in an insane asylum. Then, in 1916, in the middle of World War I, a journalist named Peter Jacobs destroyed the monsters in the catacombs under Oublie Cathedral in Amiens, armed with a rifle and powerful magic spells written down in the tome. Unlike most people who encountered the Ancients, Jacobs did not die.

Then, they came to another mention of Yomiyama, this one from the point of view of John Williamson, an American soldier involved in the occupation of Japan after World War II, who was the last of a number of mysterious disappearances in 1947. It turned out that Williamson had shot his way through an army of monsters under an abandoned house in Yomiyama, and managed to use a bind spell he found on scroll hidden in the catacombs beneath Yomiyama to seal the horror lurking beneath Yomiyama, which had been responsible the disappearances, only to be attacked from behind by one of those mantis-like creatures and killed.

In 1952, Edward Roivas, a descendant of Maximillian, discovered his servants being attacked by a vampire-like monster. Roivas managed to kill the creature, discovering it had come from Ehn'gha. After fighting his way through hordes of monsters, Roivas activated a device that set off massively powerful magic spell that wiped out the monsters living in Ehn'gha.

The next encounter with the Ancients had an unnervingly familiar name attached to it: Misaki Yomiyama.

"That's…", Kyouichi said.

"The one whose death resulted in the "Curse of Class Three", Mei finished.

Misaki Yomiyama ventured into the catacombs under what is now the basement of Yomiyama North Middle School- the house that Williamson entered was demolished to make way for the school- and found to Tome of Eternal Darkness, which allowed him to use a dispel magic spell to disable the binding Williamson placed on the creature that lurked beneath Yomiyama. Misaki unleashed the monster, which promptly killed Misaki and began unleashing its destructive magic, causing a series of mysterious deaths in Misaki's former class,. All the while, a spectral version of Misaki lived on, helpless to save his classmates. In later years, the creature revived a dead person and placed them in the class to act as a "focus" for its magic.

"So this is the root cause of all evil is that monster beneath the old school building", Kyouichi said, "Lets go, this won't end unless we kill that thing!"

"Wait a second, there's more", Mei replied, briefly skimming through the stories of an archaeologist named Edwin Lindsey who discovered the "tomb" of Mantarok in Cambodia in 1983, after fight through a horde of monsters and was tasked with protecting the "Essence of Mantarok" by an undead Ellia. Finally, there was Michael Edwards, a Canadian industrial firefighter working in Iraq during the aftermath of the Gulf War, who while fighting an oil fire, accidentally fell into the Forbidden City, the temple where Pius first found the essence of Chattur'gha. After arming himself with an assault rifle and a grenade launcher, Michael shot his way through a horde of monsters to place a C-4 charge, which he then enchanted with magic from the tome, to destroy the temple.

Beyond the stories of the other people who came into possession of the tome, there was a section on the monsters. Apparently the mantis-like creatures were called "bonethieves", while the three-headed monsters were known as "horrors". There were also creatures Kyouichi and Mei had not encountered: "guardians", giant spider-like creatures with powerful magic, "trappers", small, blind, scorpion creatures capable of teleporting enemies they detect-mainly by hearing. "Trappers" were apparently best taken out with a ranged weapon such as a gun. Finally, there were "gatekeepers", bipedal creatures about eight feet tall, with skull-like heads, bat-like wings which were apparently made of something similar to a biological Kevlar- it could stop bullets, and a tail shaped like a scythe that it struck with like the tail of a scorpion.

Mei turned the page to reveal the next section of the book.

"Magic", she said simply.

The page had a number of the runes on the page, first, it showed the three runes for Chattur'gha, Xel'lotath, Ulyaoth, and Mantarok. Below these were runes that seemed to describe the target and effects of the spell.

Mei turned to the page, to a spell labeled "Enchant Item", which was supposed to fix broken objects and make weapons more powerful. Then there was the Recover spell, which could heal wounds or even ones sanity, depending on which Ancient the spell was aligned with. There were numerous other: spells for revealing the invisible, spells, spells for creating magic shields, binding creatures to an ancient, spells for attacking, and more.

"But how exactly do you cast a spell?", Kyouichi asked.

"Maybe you have to write the runes somewhere", Mei replied, "I'm going to try the enchant item spell".

"Anterbok, Magamor, Ulyaoth", Mei thought to herself, memorizing the shape of runes, as she simultaneously focused on her Benelli M4 shotgun. Suddenly, the runes appeared around her, glowing in blue, as a deep, disembodies voice said.

"Anterbok, Magamor, Ulyaoth". A blue light momentarily appeared around Mei. When the light disappeared, Kyouichi saw that Mei's shotgun now glowed blue.

"What the hell was that!", Kyouichi asked.

"I just cast a spell", Mei said simply, pointing out the enchanted shotgun, with its blue glow lighting up the room.

"You enchanted the shotgun?", Kyouichi asked, "Wouldn't it make more sense to enchant the ammunition?…"

Kyouichi stopped when he realized all of the shotgun shells on Mei's belt were also glowing blue. "Never mind", Kyouichi commented.

"Well now that we've got that figured out, lets go", Kyouichi said.

Mei followed Kyouichi towards the door when suddenly, the door was knocked over, Kyouichi only barely getting out of the way in time to avoid having his face smashed in by the flying debris.

The dust cleared to reveal a "horror" standing in the doorway, red "lightning" arcing between its hands, it was preparing to fire an energy blast. Kyouichi took aim with his MP5, but before he could fire, he heard two loud bangs, and the entire front of the "horror" exploded in a mist of blood. The monster's heads and upper torso were torn to shreds, and its right arm was completely blown off. The horror fell to the floor, dead.

"Nice", Kyouichi commented, "Can you try and enchant my gun, too?"

"Sure", Mei said simply, before she focused on Kyouichi's MP5 and cast and "Enchant Item spell". Kyouichi's MP5 now had the same blue glow as Mei's shotgun.

"Thanks", Kyouichi said as he hurried out of the room and into the hallway, Mei in tow.

The hallways were clear of zombies or other monsters, as was the stairwell, however, they did not notice a small scorpion-like creature hiding behind one of the rows of lockers near the entrance to the school. Suddenly, Kyouichi and Mei saw several glowing red shockwaves ripple out from the location of the "trapper" hidden behind the lockers.

"What the…!", Kyouichi said as Mei, the school entrance, everything, disappeared in a flash of white light.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I do not own Another or Eternal Darkness. Another is property of Yukito Ayatsuji and PA Works. Eternal Darkness is property of Silicon Knights and Nintendo.**

Chapter 4: Another Dimension

The white light cleared from Kouichi Sakakibara and Mei Misaki's eyes slowly, revealing somewhere that was definitely not the entrance foyer to Yomiyama North Middle School. Instead, they appeared to be on a floating island of bare rock, one of five floating in a vast abyss. Directly in front of him was a column of colored light that changed color every few seconds, from red, to green, to blue, to purple, and back again.

"Where… are we?", Kouichi asked.

"Another Dimension", Mei said simply, flipping through the "Tome of Eternal Darkness"

"We must have been caught be the blast from a "trapper", Mei said.

"Well how do we get out!, Kouichi asked.

He was interrupted the sounds of thunderous footsteps and crackling electricity from the platform to the right. A "horror" was charging up for its energy attack.

"Get down!", Kouichi said, as he and Mei dove to the floor, a glowing red beam of energy flying overhead. As the beam of energy dissipated, Kouichi got up and took aim with his MP5, firing two three-rounds bursts. The rounds, enhanced by the enchantment cast by Mei, tore through the creature, leaving gaping holes in its body as it fell to the ground, dead.

"Thanks", Mei said"

"Your welcome", Kouichi replied, "Anyway, how do you get out of here?".

"Walk into the column of light as it turns purple, that should take you to the exit", Mei said.

"You sure about this?", Kouichi asked.

"I am", Mei said , as she stepped into the column of light the moment it turned purple. She immediately disappeared and reappeared instantly on another floating island, this one with a semicircle of stone columns surrounding a white "portal".

Kouichi jumped into the portal while it was still purple and appeared next to Mei. As they walked towards the white portal, two zombies, these ones brown and much scrawnier than the ones they had faced earlier, rose up and blocked the way.

Two gunshots rang out as Mei fired her Benelli M4, blasting the two zombies clean in half with the enchanted shells. Kouichi and Mei walked over the bodies of the zombies and into the portal.

Once again, in a flash of light, the world around them disappeared. Less than a second later, they were back in the entrance foyer of Yomiyama North Middle School.

"Let's not go there again!", Kouichi said.

"Agreed", Mei said.

Kouichi walked through the exit of the building, MP5 at the ready, scanning the outside. The hundred or so meters separating the main school building from the old building was clear of zombies and monsters. Kouichi motioned for Mei to following him, and started running across the grassy area separating to two buildings.

"I'll go first", Mei said, slowly opening the door to old school building. As soon as she entered, she fired her shotgun three times, eliminating two zombies and a "trapper" in the entrance foyer, as a Kouichi entered behind her and checked the other side. It was completely devoid of any enemies.

"All right", Kouichi said, walking over to a door marked "basement" and standing to the right of it, back to the wall, imitating military entry techniques he'd seen in a movie once. "Mei, get on the other side and open this door when I say so".

Mei stood on the other side, handle on the door. After as second, Kouichi exclaimed "NOW!"

Mei pulled the door of the basement open and Kouichi turned into the door, pointing his MP5 down the stairs. There was nothing there.

"Come on, its clear", Kouichi said.

Mei followed Kouichi down the stairs. "You go left, I'll take the right", Kouichi said as they ascended into the school basement.

As they planned, Kouichi turned to the right of the door at the lower end of the staircase. The basement room was storage room about the size of a classroom, with old desks, shelves and other items lying against the walls.

In addition to these items, there were some decidedly unwelcome contents of the room. Kouichi fired a short burst at surprised "bonethief", the bullets hitting before it could even attempt to dodge, tearing its torso almost in half. Mei, meanwhile, fired to shotgun shells, killing two zombies, one of which had a "bonethief" inside it. Mei used her glass eye to see the "bonethief" inside the zombie and fired a shotgun blast that killed the creature inside the undead corpse.

"I think its clear", Kouichi said.

"Watch my back", Mei said, "I'm reloading".

"Got it" Kouichi said, placing himself between Mei and both doors to the basement, the one they came in from the stairs from, and the one leading into a second room.

After replacing all of the spent shells in her shotgun, Mei said, "I'm done, lets go".

Kouichi walked up the door into the next room, and turned the knob, slowly opening the door as Mei stood in front, shotgun ready shoot down anything that may come through the door. The room, however, was devoid of any enemies. The only things in the room were a hot water heater and furnace, and a manhole in the floor with a ladder sticking out. The metal cover of the manhole lay on the floor to the side.

Kouichi pointed his flashlight-equipped MP5 down into the hole. Mei stood next to him and looked down. It went down a long ways, perhaps thirty meters or more. From what little, he could see from the light, the floor appeared to be carved from stone, with a texture that suggested it was carved into the rock with picks.

"I think this is the entrance to the underground catacombs that Misaki Yomiyama and the others found", Kouichi said, "I'll go down first".

Kouichi slung his MP5 over his shoulder and placed his feet on the ladder, grasping firmly onto the first rung with his left hand as he drew his revolver with the other hand, in order to ensure he wouldn't be blindsided by any enemies that might wait below.


End file.
